PRIME MINISTER Portia Simpson Miller, yesterday spoke at the launch of a project in Washington, D.C. to increase the amount of loan funding available to poor communities in the Americas through private sector partnerships.
Mrs. Simpson Miller was due to address an invitation-only lunch yesterday at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) 'Building Opportunity for the Majority' conference following the launch of the project last week.
On the weekend Mrs. Simpson Miller said she was concerned that, despite the presence of pockets of extreme poverty in some Caribbean States and their vulnerability to external shocks, their reclassification as middle-income countries has affected the flow of development aid to the region.
During a meeting with Congresswoman Maxine Waters, she said further that the conditionalities attached to the aid which the region now received, were not sufficiently flexible to enable Governments to meet the demands of those most in need.
Former United States President Bill Clinton will address the IDB conference today, as well as other noted speakers.
The Prime Minister will also meet with members of the diaspora as well as Paul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank. Until she returns tomorrow, Robert Pickersgill, Minister of Housing, Water, Transport and Works, will deputise.
